US Diary: what's with the Bushes and the Clintons being so close?

The Nation's Dual Political Dynasties Are Growing Closer Than Arm's Length -- by ELISABETH BUMILLER

When the Bushes and Clintons held hands before 15,000 mourners at Coretta Scott King's funeral, it looked like a prayerful moment in the life of the nation. But as almost anyone watching America's two leading political families knew, underneath the tranquil image was a drama of ambition, rivalry, love and alliance that could shape the 2008 presidential election.

The scene, a riveting tableau in the six-hour celebration of Mrs. King's life and the political power of black America, offered complex layers of interconnecting relationships: father and son, husband and wife, president and former president, adversary turned ally and first lady turned senator turned probable presidential candidate.

It was one of the most public manifestations to date of the odd friendship and mutual need of two dynasties that, on the surface at least, have almost nothing in common. But as President Bush put it in an interview with CBS News last month, "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton." Mr. Bush made the remark in a telling exchange with Bob Schieffer, who said, "Well, you know, if Senator Clinton becomes president."

"There we go," Mr. Bush said.

"Maybe we'll see a day," Mr. Schieffer continued.

"Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton," Mr. Bush responded.

Earlier in the interview, when Mr. Schieffer noted that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was "running pretty hard right now for the Democratic nomination," Mr. Bush jumped in and called her "formidable," an unusually friendly assessment that may have been one reason that Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, fired back at Mrs. Clinton on Sunday as a candidate with a "left-wing record" and "a lot of anger."

People who know both the Clintons and the Bushes said Mr. Bush's remark about Mrs. Clinton was the more honest personal view. It reflected, they said, the growing friendship between Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush's father, the first President Bush, and the powers of a shared experience that just five men alive — the two Bushes, Mr. Clinton and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford — wholly understand.

"They've got this secret handshake that nobody else knows about," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat who was a top White House adviser to Mr. Clinton.

Friends of both men say the current President Bush and Mr. Clinton have grown to like each other in Mr. Bush's time in office, even after Mr. Bush had disdained Mr. Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

"Yes, President Bush had a personal distaste for Bill Clinton's private behavior," said Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer who ran White House damage control in the Clinton scandals and who has been friends with Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton for 30 years. "But President Bush would be the first to say that he went through a period of his life where his personal conduct was not something to be proud of. And so both of them have been through hard times, learned humility and learned to differentiate politics from the personal."

The friendship, Democrats and Republicans say, has a political dimension in that Mr. Clinton appears more statesmanlike and Mrs. Clinton more centrist in an embrace with the Bushes, even though the embrace is often fleeting.

By Wednesday morning, Mrs. Clinton had initiated a broad attack on the Bush administration as "playing the fear card" of terrorism to win elections. To the degree that Mr. Clinton and his personal conduct in office become an issue for Mrs. Clinton should she seek the presidency, the implied character reference from two generations of Bushes could be important insulation.

In the meantime, associates of former President Bush and Mr. Clinton say that the two have moved beyond their road show for tsunami and hurricane relief into a genuine friendship and that they have told members of each of their parties to stop complaining about the bond.

In June, Mr. Clinton stayed with Mr. Bush at the former president's retreat in Kennebunkport, Me., where they played golf and raced in Mr. Bush's speedboat. They have also gotten together about a dozen times in the past year for meetings, television tapings and private meals.

The former President Bush has also told friends how much he appreciates Mr. Clinton's deference to him. Last year, when the two men were headed for a four-day trip to the tsunami area, Mr. Clinton, now 59, insisted that Mr. Bush, now 81, take the bedroom on the Air Force plane on the flight over.

"I said, 'No, come on, you go in there, and I'll take the next leg,' " Mr. Bush told Time magazine in December. " 'No, no,' he said. I guess he wanted to play cards all night. But nevertheless, that means something to me. I'm older, and it was a very great courtesy. So the relationship is fun for me. And you have this feeling of doing something important, doing something bigger than ourselves."

Mrs. Clinton's staff members appear ambivalent about the friendship and its effects on her potential race in 2008. Asked what the friendship meant to Mrs. Clinton politically, Howard Wolfson, a top adviser to Mrs. Clinton, said: "Beats me. And it didn't stop the chairman of the Republican Party from attacking her last week."